As regions vigorously promote "industrial upward expansion" to optimize land use and enhance industrial clustering, the quality and safety of industrial park factories have become critical to the survival and development of the manufacturing sector. However, a recent case reveals that a factory custom-built by a leading industrial park developer, Wanyang Group, with millions in loans, has been officially classified as an unsafe structure. Widespread floor cracks and honeycombed concrete in beams and columns have raised serious safety concerns about the "industrial upward expansion" initiative.
An entrepreneur invested over 17 million yuan, partly through loans, to customize a factory, only to discover it was a substandard construction. The owner of Foshan FenShuiLing New Materials Co., Ltd., Chai Tang, was shocked by the poor quality. Wanyang Group, known as the "Country Garden of industrial real estate," markets itself with the slogan "providing a home for enterprises and simplifying factory operations." In 2020, Chai Tang paid a 100,000-yuan deposit to Foshan Gaoming Wanyang Zhongchuang City Development Co., Ltd. to customize a standalone, five-story factory spanning 6,219 square meters.
By 2023, the developer handed over the building. Chai Tang paid over 3.6 million yuan as a down payment and took out a bank loan of 13.7 million yuan to purchase the factory and obtain the property certificate. In June 2025, when planning to renovate the new factory for production, workers clearing debris uncovered extensive cracks on floors above the second level and honeycombed concrete in multiple load-bearing columns.
"With the industrial park fully inspected and completed in 2023, and the developer being a leading company, we had no reason to doubt the factory's quality initially," Chai Tang stated. Although the interior remained unfinished, cracks were visible everywhere above the second floor, with exposed and severely corroded reinforcement bars in some areas, some even broken or loose. "The density and variety of cracks are alarming," Chai Tang added. "Most cracks radiate from beams and columns, with clusters around pillars still expanding. If put into operation under heavy machinery loads, the consequences would be disastrous."
More critically, load-bearing columns showed significant defects. Chai Tang pointed to several excavated columns on the ground floor, noting inadequate strength and honeycombed concrete inside. He also highlighted dilapidated rooftop railings where mortar crumbled easily, indicating poor material quality. "The factory is now certified as unsafe, halting production. I still carry over 10 million yuan in bank debt with monthly repayments exceeding 100,000 yuan," Chai Tang said.
After failed negotiations with Wanyang, Chai Tang filed a complaint with the Foshan Gaoming District Housing, Urban-Rural Development, and Water Affairs Bureau. On October 10, 2025, the bureau issued a directive urging Foshan Gaoming Wanyang Zhongchuang City Development Co., Ltd. to coordinate with construction, design, and supervision units to investigate the factory's quality issues.
Two authoritative evaluations confirmed the building as unfit for use. JianTong Design Co., Ltd., a certified third-party inspector, issued a reliability and seismic assessment in August 2025, rating the structure's safety at Level D and reliability at Level Four, meaning it "severely fails to meet national standards, compromising overall safety and rendering it unusable." Experts note that Level D signifies a hazardous state, commonly referred to as an unsafe building. The report cited honeycombed concrete in columns, insufficient reinforcement spacing, extensive floor cracks up to 2–3 meters long, and exposed, rusted rebars.
Wanyang initially disputed these findings. Subsequently, both parties jointly commissioned Guangdong Provincial Construction Engineering Quality and Safety Testing Center Co., Ltd. for a second evaluation. By late February, the center's report upheld the previous conclusions, classifying the building's structural safety as Level D and reliability as Level Four under industrial construction standards. The report noted that 78 out of 126 sampled points for floor slab reinforcement cover thickness failed tests, with a mere 38% pass rate.
Official records show that the problematic Factory 53 in Gaoming Wanyang Zhongchuang City underwent joint completion acceptance on January 6, 2023, and received final approval on January 11, 2023. Public disclosures reveal that local housing authorities in Yangzhong (Jiangsu), Jiangmen (Guangdong), and Yunfu (Guangdong) flagged quality risks in other Wanyang projects between June 2024 and June 2025, including honeycombed concrete in Heshan Wanyang Zhongchuang City Phase Three and inadequate anchoring in Yunfu Wanyang Zhongchuang City.
Wanyang Group Vice President Dai Qingbin acknowledged that Factory 53, as designed, is "unfit for normal use" and requires reinforcement but not full demolition, attributing the issues to construction flaws. He confirmed that the company and owner have agreed on a reinforcement plan.
Industry analysts suggest Wanyang's rapid growth, driven by a "low-cost + scale" strategy aligned with traditional manufacturing upgrades and industrial upward expansion demand, has outpaced management capabilities. The firm's integrated model—where Wanyang Zhongchuang City handles investment, Wanyang Construction builds, and Wanyang Smart Operations manages properties—creates a conflict of interest. "With no competitive bidding in construction, profits are internalized once land is acquired," an insider noted. While this integrated approach offers cost and scheduling benefits, it lacks checks and balances, potentially compromising material quality and construction standards, with third-party supervision often ineffective due to aligned interests.